Your Grandma Is Our Grandma: Smothers ES Uplifts Intergenerational Principle

By Vanessa Williams

“All of these ladies here are MY grandmas!”

—Ms. Wiggins, kindergarten teacher at Smothers ES

There were no fresh baked, chocolate chip cookies in sight. No peppermints being discreetly offered and passed from big to little hands. All of the sweaters appeared to be store-bought, not hand knit. Yet everyone at Smothers Elementary School (DCPS) the morning of their Intergenerational Read Aloud were wrapped in the love, wisdom, and laughter only grandmas can give.

It was Dodah Yirusha’s — the coordinator of this multi-grade activity — first time participating in the D.C. area Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, and she sought out to center the intergenerational guiding principle with an invitation to Black women elders of their neighborhood. The principle reads,

We are committed to fostering an intergenerational and communal network free from ageism. We believe that all people, regardless of age, show up with the capacity to lead and learn.

These eight grandmothers showed up, led, and learned with Smothers’ preK3 — 2nd grade classes that morning! Ranging in age from 61 to 95 (yes, you read that right!) years old, these grandmothers had deep ties to the Smothers’ community. Some of them were grandmothers to current or recently graduated students, one spent years of her teaching career at the school before retiring 10 years ago, one was an alumna of Smothers and mother to a current teacher who also went to Smothers! Each did at least two read alouds of picture books to six different classes. The titles they read — including Sebastian’s Apartment Family, Bedtime Bonnet, and Feast for 10 — are adored by other educators in the DCAESJ network. These early childhood educators always read books authored by and featuring characters of color because they value their babies seeing themselves in the literature.

“They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but I think that dog knows learning new tricks is overrated anyway.” Annie Satcher, one of OUR grandmas

Students and teachers alike embraced having these grandmothers read aloud to their classes. By the end of the hour, Kiana Williams, Smothers’ principal, along with Ms. Motley, Ms. Johnson-Frye, Ms. Natalie, Ms. Dent, and Ms. Wiggins, the teachers whose classes hosted grandma guests that morning, floated the idea that this be a monthly program.

While this event centered the Intergenerational guiding principle, the leadership and guidance — exclusively by Black women — uplifted that guiding principle. Alongside the Intergenerational and Black Women principles, the spirit of the day also perfectly captured the Black Villages guiding principle, which states,

We are committed to disrupting the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, and especially “our” children to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.

This morning was nothing short of powerful and awe-inspiring. In a Week of Action that is centering Collective Value, the time Smothers ES spent with these grandmothers was invaluable.

Our grandmothers’ names

Ruth Paige

Annie Miller

Anita Jones

Brita Jackson

Willisteen McCain

Betty Mitchell

Irma Parkman

Annie Satcher

Alice Chandler